76 lawmakers voted to block the Kentucky Republican’s effort to strip language that he argues will destroy the hemp industry.
Senators shot down an attempt by Sen. Rand Paul to eliminate language in their shutdown-ending deal that the Kentucky Republican argues will destroy the booming hemp industry.
The amendment was blocked on a 76-24 vote with Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) and Paul as the lone GOP senators in favor of proceeding, along with 22 Democrats.
The vote comes after Paul’s monthslong fight with senior appropriators Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and Rep. Andy Harris (R-Md.) over a provision that would crack down on intoxicating hemp products that were legalized through the 2018 farm bill.
The amendment’s failure clears the path for lawmakers to vote on final passage of a funding package that moves Congress closer to ending the record-breaking government shutdown. Paul told reporters that his amendment wasn’t designed to “hold things up,” but to protect the hemp business that’s blossomed in Kentucky since 2018.
“My goal is to condense the time, have one vote, express my displeasure with them screwing up an entire industry, and people will feel … there’s at least been somebody fighting,” Paul said.
The vote also marked the first time in years that senators were forced to take a public stance on how the government should regulate THC and hemp products.
McConnell championed the legalization of hemp production during negotiations over the 2018 farm bill. He has subsequently expressed privately that he views passing new language restricting the industry as key to preserving his agriculture policy legacy before he retires from the Senate in 2026.
Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), who pushed for the legalization of hemp in the 2018 farm bill alongside McConnell, backed Paul’s amendment.
“We’re going to keep at it until we get this fixed,” Wyden told POLITICO. “The reality is, the legalization was essentially myself and Senator McConnell, so we’re going to stay at it.”
Hemp industry representatives and lobbyists have spent months campaigning against McConnell’s language, arguing that his proposal would effectively kill their industry.
Those hemp business leaders were left in the dark about whether McConnell’s language would be included in the Senate’s Ag-FDA funding plans until the bill’s release on Sunday. It was previously stripped in the Senate after Paul threatened to block the funding bill.
Other industry groups representing alcohol and marijuana products have encouraged lawmakers to crack down on hemp, as have dozens of state officials who have warned about the proliferation of synthetic cannabinoids sold in gas stations and convenience stores and marketed toward children. Kentucky and other hemp-producing states have since scrambled to introduce their own regulatory frameworks.
McConnell argued on the Senate floor Monday that children are “being sent to the hospital at an alarming rate” due to the hemp products.
“While some may masquerade as advocates for hemp farmers, even sometimes threatening to hold up government funding over this issue, I’ll continue to work on behalf of Kentucky farmers while protecting our children,” McConnell said.
Proponents of the measure argue that it will prevent the unregulated sale of intoxicants and preserve non-intoxicating CBD and industrial hemp. But Paul and the hemp industry have said the new regulations will make current hemp plants illegal, given the level of THC naturally occurring in the plants.
“Every hemp plant in America will have to be destroyed,” Paul said. “Every hemp seed in America will have to be destroyed, and 100 percent of the hemp products that are sold will no longer be allowed to be sold.”
Some hemp industry representatives have expressed hope that the White House or lawmakers will step in and soften the blow to their businesses during the one-year implementation period, according to two people familiar with the talks.
President Donald Trump has previously expressed an openness to reclassifying marijuana and even posted on Truth Social advocating for the use of hemp-derived CBD in health care, a move that hemp farmers celebrated.